life is great, except for one small thing….

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TTC Timeline

January 2003 – DH and I meet at school, through the Jewish student association, Hillel. We think the other is cute, but nothing happens.

March 2005 – Finally, after months years of just being friends, taking time to get to know each other, etc, we decide to start dating, but also that it won’t be serious, since DH is graduating in May.

September 2005 – We give in to the fact that despite what we said in March, we’re really serious anyway. DH sticks around and works while I finish my senior year of college.

June 2006 – After I graduate, we get engaged.

September 2007 – We get married, in a beautiful, kosher, awesome wedding with a rabbi that we would later get to know and love. Since I’m just 22 and DH is 25, we plan to wait to have children. Our initial discussion is to wait for five years, but to revisit as necessary.

August 2011 – We move to the Big Apple to pursue graduate school. With our fourth anniversary approaching, we decide to wait until I graduate from school.

February 2012 – Both of us are increasingly interested in having a baby. After a discussion with a friend who happens to be a doula, we decided that we wanted to start trying earlier.

End of March 2012 – I come off birth control, and we start NTNP until August. At this point, I start charting my temperatures, and confirm that I’m ovulating fairly regularly.

August 2012 – We begin to TTC in earnest. I try several natural supplements and things. We also figure out that stress takes a toll on my cycle – both the cycle in May with finals, and the one in August with the beginning of school are much longer than average because of late ovulation.

October 2012 – I have my yearly with my OBGYN. It’s a new doctor, so I also inform him that we are TTCing. He says to contact him again when we’ve been trying for 6 cycles, but that he expects me back with a positive pregnancy test before then. I also start getting acupuncture to treat migraines, and then move into helping with fertility.

February 2013 – I go in for another consultation, since after 6 cycles, we’ve had nothing close to a positive test. I have been off BC now for almost a year. He consults my charts, which prove that I ovulated, and refers me for an HSG and a SA for DH.

End of February 2013 – I have the HSG, which reveals one blocked fallopian tube (where the tube connects to the uterus). However, that’s a common place for a “block” that might be just a spasm in the tube from the dye. DH’s SA comes back normal. The OB says to wait for a total of three cycles, and then he will give us a referral to an RE if we are not pregnant by then.

March 2013 – After a longer than normal cycle due to late ovulation (first one since August), I get a very faint positive test. Two days later, BFN, and 36 hours after that, AF arrives. Since that officially marks 12 cycles, I decide to embrace the idea that we’re having fertility difficulties and start this blog.

Late June 2013 – We have our first appointment with the RE. He refers DH for another SA just to be sure, and takes a lot of blood to see what’s going on. He does an initial ultrasound, and we come back in two weeks to talk about what’s going on. He thinks it might also be some kind of hormonal disorder, particularly mild PCOS. He also wants to do a saline sonogram to look at my uterus himself.

Late July – The saline sonogram reveals some kind of small something in the uterus. Unclear exactly what it is. He wants to do a hysteroscopy, but DH and I are feeling a little nervous. Something about the doctor isn’t making us comfortable. We’re traveling in August and part of September so we won’t start treatment right away anyway.

Early August – I start with a new acupuncturist. She suggests a few books to read, and I start more vitamins. She also thinks that some of my problems might be thyroid related, particularly since I have a family history of low thyroid. It would be subclinical, since the tests by the RE didn’t reveal anything.

Late September 2013 – I get a job! Yay! New health insurance kicks in in January, but with almost none of the same covered doctors as my old insurance. Given that we wanted to switch REs anyway, we decide to wait out treatment until my new insurance kicks in. Depressing to wait longer, but it is what it is.

March 2014 – Schedule calms down, work changes insurance, I bite the bullet and call. At our appointment with RE#2, we feel A LOT more comfortable. He does an ultrasound, and I have a HUGE cyst on my left ovary. Yay. He suspects my problem is mild PCOS, and maybe whatever is going on in the uterus – more testing, but his immediate suggestion is Timed Intercourse with clomid and a trigger shot.